Dianne LaPointe Rudow, DNP joins The Mount Sinai Medical Center to head the nation’s first multi-organ Living Donor Wellness Center.

– April 26, 2010 /Press Release/ ––

Dianne LaPointe Rudow, DNP, an expert in living donation, has joined The Mount Sinai Medical Center to head the nation’s first major multiorgan Living Donor Wellness Center at the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute. Her appointment was effective on April 19.

“The Living Donor Wellness Center exemplifies Mount Sinai’s commitment to providing the best possible care to those who donate their organs,” said Sander Florman, MD, Director of the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. “These people are heroes, and Mount Sinai is dedicated to ensuring they receive stellar care not only directly following donation, but months and years later. We are pleased that someone of Dr. LaPointe Rudow’s caliber will lead us in this endeavor.”

Living donors are a special patient population that presents unique physical and psychological concerns. Dr. LaPointe Rudow is well-versed on those issues, having devoted her career to care of and advocacy for the living donor. She will work jointly with Dr. Marcelo Facciuto, Surgical Director of Living Donor Liver Transplantation, and Dr. Juan Rocca, Surgical Director of Living Donor Kidney Transplantation, to ensure that living donation at Mount Sinai is as much about the process of donation as it is about the procedure itself.

“Studies have shown that living donors are uniquely altruistic and resilient following donation,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. “We have the opportunity to provide them with top-notch care, which may lead to an increase in organ donations. Under the leadership of Dr. LaPointe Rudow, Mount Sinai has the opportunity to become a premier center for donor research, education, and patient care, furthering our overall mission as a top-rated academic medical center.”

Dr. LaPointe Rudow’s team will focus solely on the living donor, with a multi-disciplinary staff concentrating on the pre-, peri-, and post-operative phases of live donor care. Pre-donation care will focus on evaluating the donor and educating them about the risks and benefits of donation. During the inpatient and recovery phase, staff will focus on safety, advocacy, psychological support, and monitoring for complications. In post-recovery, patients will be educated about maintaining a healthy organ system, including long-term monitoring.

“Mount Sinai is internationally recognized for its innovation in research, education, and clinical care, and its transplant program is one of the largest in the country,” said Dr. LaPointe Rudow. “The long-term physical and emotional health of the living kidney and liver donors deserves more attention, and Mount Sinai is uniquely poised to lead this charge. I am pleased to bring this opportunity to fruition.”

In addition to her reputation in patient care, Dr. LaPointe Rudow has published or presented more than 50 studies on living donors. Her research has appeared in several top journals, including Progress in Transplantation, Liver Transplantation, and the American Journal of Transplantation.

Dr. LaPointe Rudow has also been involved in several professional organizations, and has worked to develop national and New York state standards for donor care while serving on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing board of directors, the Living Donor Committee, and the New York Center for Liver Transplantation. She also serves on the board of directors for the American Society of Transplantation and is a past-President of NATCO: The National Organization of Transplant Professionals.

Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. LaPointe Rudow served as Director of Clinical Operations and Clinical Director of the Living Donor Liver Transplantation program at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. A native New Yorker, Dr. LaPointe Rudow began her training at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, where she also received her master’s degree in nursing. She was certified as a nurse practitioner at the Adelphi University School of Nursing. In 2005, she was in the first class of students receiving a doctorate of nursing practice from Columbia University’s School of Nursing.

About The Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute (RMTI)

The Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City brings together world-renowned transplant surgeons, physicians, and other health care professionals to support patients every step of the way in the transplant process. Dedicated patient care, high-level expertise, and a multidisciplinary approach make Mount Sinai a leader in organ transplantation. RMTI surgeons perform liver, kidney, pancreas, and small intestine transplants, as well as living-donor transplants including state-of-the-art minimally invasive procedures for both liver and kidney donation.

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of few medical schools embedded in a hospital in the United States. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 15 institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institute of Health funding and by U.S. News & World Report. The school received the 2009 Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2009, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital among the nation’s top 20 hospitals based on reputation, patient safety, and other patient-care factors. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 530,000 outpatient visits took place.